Mangled remains of an Air India Express flight en route from Dubai after it skidded off the runway while landing, at Karippur in Kozhikode.
Air India Express plane, that crash-landed on Friday evening at Kerala’s Kozhikode airport when it was trying to land on the table-top runaway, has claimed 18 lives so far including its pilot and co-pilot. The black box of the crashed plane has been recovered as the investigation is underway with Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri saying that let us not speculate how the plane crashed.
Air India Express plane crash | Survivors account
- Survivors are recalling their horrific accounts at the time when the tragedy took place. One of the survivors said, “It all happened in a flash. Or so it seemed. Just when they thought they had reached home, their plane skidded off the runway at the airport here, breaking into two as it fell into a 35-feet gorge in pelting rain.”
- Like Ramshad. He is injured but his wife Sufaira and four-year-old daughter Saidasherin escaped without any serious wounds. “We did not realise what really happened other than the fact that the flight was shaking,” said Ramshad, from Vatakara near Kozhikode, grateful that his family was spared.
- Ashraf, who belongs to east Kozhikode, now under treatment at the Medical College Hospital here, said he is yet to recover from the shock. Recalling the frantic moments, another survivor said people jumped out into the wooded darkness in the rain from the emergency door.
- “As soon the flight crashed, the emergency door was opened and people jumped out to safety,” the survivor said. Vijaymohan, who escaped with minor injuries and is recovering in a private hospital, said he thought it was a nightmare, unsure whether he was dreaming it all or living through it.
- “I thought it was a nightmare. I could see heaps of twisted metal spread around when I opened my eyes after the initial shock of the impact,” said Vijayamohan, a resident of nearby Malaparamba. His wife Jameema is admitted in the ICU.
- The couple had gone to Dubai in December to join their son but got held up due to the Covid-19 induced lockdown. Describing the horrific minutes that stretched into what seemed like hours, Riyas said the flight went around the airport twice before attempting to land. “I was in the back seat. There was a big noise and I don’t know what happened after that,” he said.
- Fathima, another passenger, said the flight landed with heavy force and moved forward. Ashik, undergoing treatment at a hospital, was thankful to the fire personnel who reached immediately and moved the injured to safety.
The 184 passengers on board the Air India Express plane from Dubai that crashed on Friday evening had waited a long time to get tickets on the repatriation flight, part of the Centre’s Vande Bharat Mission to bring back Indians stranded abroad in the coronavirus pandemic.
For some, the homecoming never happened. Eighteen people were killed, including the two pilots. For others, the screams of their fellow passengers trapped in the twisted metal, the injuries, the close brush with death and the interminable wait to be rescued are part of a nightmare they may take a long time to wake up from.
The 4-cabin crew were among the 172 people who escaped with injuries. Officials said 149 people were admitted to various hospitals and the condition of 16 is serious. As they recovered from their injuries, some shaken and traumatised, others still coming to terms with what had happened, there were those who said there was much to be thankful for.
(With inputs from PTI)
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